A former partner of Allen & Overy and Macfarlanes has been sentenced to 12 months in prison for claiming to police he had been kidnapped in an apparent effort to avoid a possible driving-under-the-influence case after driving his Range Rover off the road.

“I doubt a drink-drive conviction would have led to this but any conviction of perverting the course of justice is serious,” said Judge Guy Anthony as he lowered the boom on Francis Bridgeman, 43, at Lewes Crown Court on Friday, the Daily Mail reports.

“Oh, What a tangled web we weave, When first we practice to deceive,” the judge added, quoting from a famous poem by Sir Walter Scott.

Bridgeman also lost his driving privileges for 18 months and was fined.